180 -4BSTRACTS OF O1IEMICAL PAPERS. Chemistry of Vegetable Physiology and Agriculture. Bacterio-purpurin. By T. W. ENGELMANN (Pfiiiger’s Archiv, 42, 183--186).-1n P$iiger’s Archiv (30, 95) the author has previously described a bacterium producing a red pigment, to which he gave the name B. photometricurn, as light by varying the %mount of red pigment influences its movements. Since then he has made :L number of observations on different varieties of bacteria which pro- duce a red colour. All belong t o the class of sulphur-bacteria (Winogradsky, Botan. Zeit., 1887, No. 31-37) ; that is, bacteria which in the presence of free hydrogen sulphide, oxidise sulphur, forming sulphuric acid ; all these bacteria are moreover coloured by a purplish- red pigment diffused through their protoplasm-bacterio- purpurin (Ray-Lankester) ; they are all also influenced by light like the B.yhotometricum. This last point distinguishes them from certain col ou rless sulphur- bnc t erin. Different coloured lights affect the bacteria differently ; the most, powerful being the ultra-red, tlie yellow, and part of the green. These are tile places i n the absorption-spectrum of bacteria-purpuriu where the greatest absorption of light occurs. A table is given of the amount of absorption of light of bacterio-purpurin measured by the spectroDhotometer for the different part of the spectrum. Absorp- tion and physiological effects are thus closely related to one another.VEGETABLE PHTSIOLOGIF AND AQRICULTURE. 181 This fact suggested a comparison between this pigment and chloro- pllyll; and i t was then found that bacterio-purpurin is a chromo- phylI, absorbing carbonic anhjdride, and giving out oxygen in the light ; sunlight produces this most readily, but the ultra-red works only a little less efficiently than mixed light’.Beer Yeast. By MARTINAND (Coinpt. rend., 107, 745-748) .- Observations of the time required to form acrospores do not yield results sufficiently precise to distinguish between different species of snccharomyces. Experiments in which various species of saccharoinyces were allowed to act on sierilised solutions of maltose for several days, show t h a t X. cerewisioe from beer yeast acts more rapidly and com- pletely than S. ellipsodeus, S. pastorianus, and S. apiculatus. The times required for the formation of acrospores were somewhat variable.With a solution of saccharose inverted by hydrochloric acid, S. cere- risin! and S. pastorianus were found to act less completely than S. ellipsoideus. Further experiments are required before these observations can be utilised for the practical analysis of yeast. Yeast-poisons. By H. SCKULZ (P’iiger’s Archiw, 42, 517-541). -Previous researches by the author (Virchozu’s Arch., 108, 427) have led him to the conclusion that drugs produce their effect by raising or lowering the physiological processes in animal cells ; and that small and large doses of any one drug may produce opposite effects of this kind. The same thing occurs with vegetable cells, the various substances that, in large amount, produce stoppage of fermentations, produce, when excessively dilute, an increase of the activity of the yeast organisms as measured by the amount and pressure of carbonic anhydride produced.The apparatus used for the investigation is fully described, and the results set out in detail, the pressure of carbonic anhydride being represented graphically in the form of curves. The results, however, may be briefly summarised in the following way for each of the various drugs used :- Mercuric Chloride.-The increase of activity of the yeast showed itself most when the amount of dilution was about 1 : 500,000. 5 Iodine.-Here the optimum was reached when the dilution was 1 : 600,000 in one series of experiments ; 1 : 100,000 in another. Bromine.-Here two sets of experiments both yieIded the dilution 1 : 300,000 as the most favourable for ferment, activity.Arsenious Acid.-The relation found here as the best was somewhat less than in the foregoing cases ; the proportion of 1 : 40,000 gave the most vigorous production of carbonic anhydride : a dilution less than this, 1 : 50,000, produced no effect whatever. Chromic Acid.-This had to be used still more concentrated; a dilution 1 : 8000 producing the most marked stimulating effect on the micro-oi-ganisms, Xalicylic Acid.-The optimum of dilution was here 1 : 4000 ; and in the case of formic acid 1 : 10,000. W. D. H. C. H. B. W. D. H.182 ABSTRACTS O F CHEMICAL PAPERS. Blood Pigment as a Gauge of Gaseous Exchanges in Plants. By T. W. ENGELMANN (PJuger’s Archiv, 42. 186--188).-The prin- ciple of this method is not new, as Hoppe-Seyler showed ( Z e i f .phiisid. Chern., 2, 425) that a piece of living Elodea canadensis in diluted decomposing blood will in direct sunlight cause the venous colour to become arterial, while in the dark the venous colour returns. But this same fact may also be used for microscopical investigations of living cells or small particles of living plant tissues, and as a test for chromophylls. A small spray of spiropyra m7as mounted on a drop of diluted defibrinated ox blood, which had been rendered venous by a stream of hydrogen or carbonic anhydride. I n 10-15 minutes in diffuse dayliqht, in one minute in direct sunlight, the blood in the neighbourhood of the green fragment had become arterial, while in the dark it once more returned to its venous tint, The same change may be watched with a spectral ocular, or better a microspectrophotometer ; the one band of hEmoglobin giving place to the two of oxyhEmoglobin, or the reverse.The change occurs a t different rates under the influence of light from different parts of the spectrum :-A spectrum was projected under the preparation; the change t o the arterial tint occurred in that part of the spray of the spirogyra which was lying over the outermost part of the visible rkd, 1-eaching its height, however, about the C line, and then sank until the beginning of the green was reached. Sometimes a secocd effect was seen in the blue-green, and a slighter one in the violet. Other chromophylls (for instance, bacterio-purpurin, see p. 180) act mutatis mutandis similarly to chlorophyll.W. D. H. A Plant which Destroys the Sense of Taste for Sweets and Bitters. By B. BERTHOLD (Chem. Cenlr., 1888, 1071, from Centr. Ned. Wiss., 1888, 460--461).-This drug comes from an Asclepiadea, Gymmema sylvestre, found in Assam, on the Coromsndel coast, and on the African continent, and is a stronp woody shrub with long thin branches. The Hindoos have used the pulverised bark for a long time as an antidote against snake bites. When chewed, the leaves possess a t first a bitter astringent, later a, slightly acid taste. Directly after chewing, one loses the power of taste for sweet and bitter principles, b u t only for these two effects on the sense of taste. Sugar tastes like sand and quinine sulphate like chalk. A t the end of 2-2 hours, the normal sense of taste is recovered.The author has com- menced the chemical investigat,ion, and has succeeded in separating three substances, but these are not yet sufficiently characterised. Occurrence of Aluminium in Vascular Cryptogams. By J. W. L. A. H. CHURCH (Proc. Roy. Soc., 44, 121--129).--n/lore recent analyses generally recognise the presence of alumina in plants as adventitious. The author has, however, found it to be an important constituent of many Lycopodiae, for instance, L. alpinurn, L. clavaturn, L. selap, and L. cernuurn, whilst in Selnginella spinulosa it is absent. The earth is also absent in L. phlegmaria and L. billurdieri, hilt these were afterwards found to be epiphytic. Plants closely related to theVEGETABLE PH YYLOLOQY AND AG KICULT UIt K.183 Jqcopodiq namely, E'quiseturn, Ophioglossum, Salvinia, Marsilea, Psiloturn, and Selaqinella, gave negative results. Of tree feriis, c!yathea seym gave negative results, whilst the ash of an unknown tree fern from New Zealand contained 19.65 per cent., Cyatherc medu1Zari.s from the same source examined qualitatively gave abundance of alumina, as also did AZsophila australis and to a less extent Dicksonicr, squarrosa. Alumina is also an important constituent of the water- moss, Fonfindis nntipyretica. The alumina in the Lycopodi8 occurs in combination with organic acids. It niay serve to neutraliw the acids produced in the plant. It is noticeable that the essential in- organic constituents of plants have low atomic weights, and fall nithin series 1, 2, 3, and 4 of the periodic arrangement.Formation of Nitric and Nitrous Acids by the Evaporation of Water in Presence of Alkalis and Soil. By A. BAUMANN (Lanclw. Versuchs-Stat.. 1888,217-264).-Schonb~in (Annaleii, 124,4) and others have stated that when water is evaporated, ammonium nitrate and nitrite ale produced. They also stated that calcium carbonate as well as hydrated oxides absorb ammonia and con-rert it into nitrates. The author has made numerous experiments, all of which he here details, and brings forward conclusive evidence that all these experi- ments made by Schiinbein are incorrect. He firstly attributes the false results to the absence of the delicate reagents now a t hand, whereby ammonia, nitrates, nitrites, and ozone, and hydrogen peroxide may he detected.Secondly, he shows that the source of nitrates is the gas flames used for evaporation, and for heating water-baths, &c., and that, when evaporation is conducted without the direct aid of gas flames, for instance, by sun heat, or previously heated sand-baths, uo trace of nitrates is found, if the evaporation is conducted in a rocm where no gas flames have been burning. He further shows that most of the chemical preparations which are sold as pure contain nitric acid, and he instances a case in which to prepare pure calcium car- bonate by precipitation, one portion of the product was dried in a water-bath, the other portion by filter-paper, the former product con- tained nitrate, the latter none. This holds good for all reagents similarly prepared. It is also shown that even the very tests employed to detect nitric acid, such as brucine, may and frequently do contain a trace of nitrate.Passing on to Franks' experiments on the disappearance of the ammonia when ammonium chloride is mixed with soil, he points out that Frank seems to have forgotten the action of alkalis on com- pounds of ammonia, and shows that in forest soils nitrates are not found, nor are they produced from added ammonia. Finally, he warns all who are experimenting on nitrification to beware lest they introduce nitric acid by heating their solutions over gas flames, or ignite solids in open crucibles, &c., also that chemicals or samples must not be kept in rooms where gas is burning, or they will be more or less contaminated. E.W. P. H. I(. T. Composition of Spring Wheats grown in 1887. By M. MARCKER (Bied. Centtr., lb88, 708 --715j.-This is a similar paper to184 ABSTRACTS OF OHEMICAL PAPERS. the following, in which the compositions of varieties of foreign wheats are compared. It appears th;t t. gmernlly, the highest percentage of albuminojids and gluten i s to be found in those wheats which come quickest to maturity (under 130 days), when there would be, of albu- mino'ids, 13.17 per cent., and of dry gluten, 18 08, whereas when the period of growth exceeds 130 days, the albuminojids amount to only 12.47, and gluten t o 9.22 per cent. ; the smaller the grain, the higher the percentage of gluten, whilst a large grain is indicative of a high percentage of starch ; the wheats richest in gluten produce a more bulky dough than other kinds, and the early ripened wheat and the largest grains are most suitable for baking purposes.The greater the percentage of gluten, the higher will the dough made from the flour rise in the aleurometer. E. W. P. Composition of East Indian Wheat. By T. DIETRICH (Landw. Versuchs-Stat., 1888, 309--318).-Several varieties of Indian wheat are fully described, both physically and chemically. On com- paring the percentage of albuminojids, it is found that the mean of 937 analyses of English, Russian, &c., wheats gives 13.90 of crude albuminoids in the dry substance, whilst the Indian wheats contain only 12.66 per cent. m a mean. E. W. P. Composition and Nutritive Value of Oats. By M. MARCEER (Bied. Centr., 1888, 697--704).--Prom a number of analyses and experiments on several varieties of oats, the details of which are given, the following conclusions are drawn :-The heavier-yielding sort is poorer in albumino'ids than the lighter-yielding; there is no definite ratio between the percentages of fat and albuminojids ; that sort which comes quickest to maturity is richest in albuminoids ; the grain poorest in albuminoids has the lowest bushel-weight, and the largest iridividual grains are also the poorest in nitrogen ; the coeffi- cient of digestion does not seem to be influenced by the composition.Those grains which are smallest in size and richest in nitrogen have most hull, and generally this hull is poorer in albuminojids than that of other grains. The thickness of the skin surrounding the seed, measured immediately above the embryo, is not invariable-in one year it may be thickest in the large grains, whilst in other years it is thinnest.A table is also given representing the germinative power and total yield of nutrients per acre, but with one 01- two exceptions the oats are of foreign kiuds and not grown in England. E. W. P. Calcium Sulphite as a Preventative of Loss of Nitrogen in Manure Heaps. By E. JENSCH (Clzern. Zeit., 12, 354--355).--The author draws attention to the enormous losses of nitrogen inherent to the present system of storing farmyard manure. These losses can be reduced by spreading gypsum, superphosphate and gypsum, and kairiite on the manure; b u t such additions are superfluous from a. manurial point of view in many districts, therefore those means have not met with extensive application.Calcium sulphite is now recom- Inended for the purpose ; itl is inexpensive, can be applied everywhere, and not only retains ammoiiia, but also acts as a disinfectant. It isANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY. 185 obtained as a bye-product from the gases evolved from the roasting of zinc-blende, and is specially prepared for the present purpose free from lime and calcium carbonate, and with an ammonia-absorbing efficiency of 85 per cent. as compared with 68 per cent. in the best commercial unburnt gypsum. Its action as a manure on vegetation has yet to be tested. D. A. L.180 -4BSTRACTS OF O1IEMICAL PAPERS.Chemistry of Vegetable Physiology and Agriculture.Bacterio-purpurin. By T.W. ENGELMANN (Pfiiiger’s Archiv, 42,183--186).-1n P$iiger’s Archiv (30, 95) the author has previouslydescribed a bacterium producing a red pigment, to which he gavethe name B. photometricurn, as light by varying the %mount of redpigment influences its movements. Since then he has made :Lnumber of observations on different varieties of bacteria which pro-duce a red colour. All belong t o the class of sulphur-bacteria(Winogradsky, Botan. Zeit., 1887, No. 31-37) ; that is, bacteria whichin the presence of free hydrogen sulphide, oxidise sulphur, formingsulphuric acid ; all these bacteria are moreover coloured by a purplish-red pigment diffused through their protoplasm-bacterio- purpurin(Ray-Lankester) ; they are all also influenced by light like the B.yhotometricum.This last point distinguishes them from certaincol ou rless sulphur- bnc t erin.Different coloured lights affect the bacteria differently ; the most,powerful being the ultra-red, tlie yellow, and part of the green. Theseare tile places i n the absorption-spectrum of bacteria-purpuriuwhere the greatest absorption of light occurs. A table is given ofthe amount of absorption of light of bacterio-purpurin measured bythe spectroDhotometer for the different part of the spectrum. Absorp-tion and physiological effects are thus closely related to one anotherVEGETABLE PHTSIOLOGIF AND AQRICULTURE. 181This fact suggested a comparison between this pigment and chloro-pllyll; and i t was then found that bacterio-purpurin is a chromo-phylI, absorbing carbonic anhjdride, and giving out oxygen in thelight ; sunlight produces this most readily, but the ultra-red worksonly a little less efficiently than mixed light’.Beer Yeast.By MARTINAND (Coinpt. rend., 107, 745-748) .-Observations of the time required to form acrospores do not yieldresults sufficiently precise to distinguish between different species ofsnccharomyces. Experiments in which various species of saccharoinyceswere allowed to act on sierilised solutions of maltose for several days,show t h a t X. cerewisioe from beer yeast acts more rapidly and com-pletely than S. ellipsodeus, S. pastorianus, and S. apiculatus. The timesrequired for the formation of acrospores were somewhat variable.With a solution of saccharose inverted by hydrochloric acid, S.cere-risin! and S. pastorianus were found to act less completely thanS. ellipsoideus.Further experiments are required before these observations can beutilised for the practical analysis of yeast.Yeast-poisons. By H. SCKULZ (P’iiger’s Archiw, 42, 517-541).-Previous researches by the author (Virchozu’s Arch., 108, 427) haveled him to the conclusion that drugs produce their effect by raisingor lowering the physiological processes in animal cells ; and thatsmall and large doses of any one drug may produce opposite effectsof this kind.The same thing occurs with vegetable cells, the various substancesthat, in large amount, produce stoppage of fermentations, produce,when excessively dilute, an increase of the activity of the yeastorganisms as measured by the amount and pressure of carbonicanhydride produced.The apparatus used for the investigation is fully described, and theresults set out in detail, the pressure of carbonic anhydride beingrepresented graphically in the form of curves.The results, however, may be briefly summarised in the followingway for each of the various drugs used :-Mercuric Chloride.-The increase of activity of the yeast showeditself most when the amount of dilution was about 1 : 500,000.5 Iodine.-Here the optimum was reached when the dilution was1 : 600,000 in one series of experiments ; 1 : 100,000 in another.Bromine.-Here two sets of experiments both yieIded the dilution1 : 300,000 as the most favourable for ferment, activity.Arsenious Acid.-The relation found here as the best was somewhatless than in the foregoing cases ; the proportion of 1 : 40,000 gave themost vigorous production of carbonic anhydride : a dilution less thanthis, 1 : 50,000, produced no effect whatever.Chromic Acid.-This had to be used still more concentrated; adilution 1 : 8000 producing the most marked stimulating effect on themicro-oi-ganisms,Xalicylic Acid.-The optimum of dilution was here 1 : 4000 ; andin the case of formic acid 1 : 10,000.W.D. H.C. H. B.W. D. H182 ABSTRACTS O F CHEMICAL PAPERS.Blood Pigment as a Gauge of Gaseous Exchanges in Plants.By T. W. ENGELMANN (PJuger’s Archiv, 42. 186--188).-The prin-ciple of this method is not new, as Hoppe-Seyler showed ( Z e i f .phiisid.Chern., 2, 425) that a piece of living Elodea canadensis indiluted decomposing blood will in direct sunlight cause the venouscolour to become arterial, while in the dark the venous colour returns.But this same fact may also be used for microscopical investigationsof living cells or small particles of living plant tissues, and as a testfor chromophylls. A small spray of spiropyra m7as mounted on adrop of diluted defibrinated ox blood, which had been renderedvenous by a stream of hydrogen or carbonic anhydride. I n 10-15minutes in diffuse dayliqht, in one minute in direct sunlight, theblood in the neighbourhood of the green fragment had becomearterial, while in the dark it once more returned to its venous tint,The same change may be watched with a spectral ocular, or better amicrospectrophotometer ; the one band of hEmoglobin giving placeto the two of oxyhEmoglobin, or the reverse.The change occurs a t different rates under the influence of lightfrom different parts of the spectrum :-A spectrum was projectedunder the preparation; the change t o the arterial tint occurred inthat part of the spray of the spirogyra which was lying over theoutermost part of the visible rkd, 1-eaching its height, however, aboutthe C line, and then sank until the beginning of the green wasreached.Sometimes a secocd effect was seen in the blue-green, anda slighter one in the violet. Other chromophylls (for instance,bacterio-purpurin, see p. 180) act mutatis mutandis similarly tochlorophyll.W. D. H.A Plant which Destroys the Sense of Taste for Sweets andBitters. By B. BERTHOLD (Chem. Cenlr., 1888, 1071, from Centr.Ned. Wiss., 1888, 460--461).-This drug comes from an Asclepiadea,Gymmema sylvestre, found in Assam, on the Coromsndel coast, and onthe African continent, and is a stronp woody shrub with long thinbranches. The Hindoos have used the pulverised bark for a longtime as an antidote against snake bites. When chewed, the leavespossess a t first a bitter astringent, later a, slightly acid taste. Directlyafter chewing, one loses the power of taste for sweet and bitterprinciples, b u t only for these two effects on the sense of taste. Sugartastes like sand and quinine sulphate like chalk. A t the end of2-2 hours, the normal sense of taste is recovered.The author has com-menced the chemical investigat,ion, and has succeeded in separatingthree substances, but these are not yet sufficiently characterised.Occurrence of Aluminium in Vascular Cryptogams. ByJ. W. L.A. H. CHURCH (Proc. Roy. Soc., 44, 121--129).--n/lore recent analysesgenerally recognise the presence of alumina in plants as adventitious.The author has, however, found it to be an important constituent ofmany Lycopodiae, for instance, L. alpinurn, L. clavaturn, L. selap,and L. cernuurn, whilst in Selnginella spinulosa it is absent. Theearth is also absent in L. phlegmaria and L. billurdieri, hilt thesewere afterwards found to be epiphytic. Plants closely related to thVEGETABLE PH YYLOLOQY AND AG KICULT UIt K.183Jqcopodiq namely, E'quiseturn, Ophioglossum, Salvinia, Marsilea,Psiloturn, and Selaqinella, gave negative results. Of tree feriis,c!yathea seym gave negative results, whilst the ash of an unknown treefern from New Zealand contained 19.65 per cent., Cyatherc medu1Zari.sfrom the same source examined qualitatively gave abundance ofalumina, as also did AZsophila australis and to a less extent Dicksonicr,squarrosa. Alumina is also an important constituent of the water-moss, Fonfindis nntipyretica. The alumina in the Lycopodi8 occursin combination with organic acids. It niay serve to neutraliw theacids produced in the plant. It is noticeable that the essential in-organic constituents of plants have low atomic weights, and fall nithinseries 1, 2, 3, and 4 of the periodic arrangement.Formation of Nitric and Nitrous Acids by the Evaporationof Water in Presence of Alkalis and Soil.By A. BAUMANN(Lanclw. Versuchs-Stat.. 1888,217-264).-Schonb~in (Annaleii, 124,4)and others have stated that when water is evaporated, ammonium nitrateand nitrite ale produced. They also stated that calcium carbonate aswell as hydrated oxides absorb ammonia and con-rert it into nitrates.The author has made numerous experiments, all of which he heredetails, and brings forward conclusive evidence that all these experi-ments made by Schiinbein are incorrect. He firstly attributes the falseresults to the absence of the delicate reagents now a t hand, wherebyammonia, nitrates, nitrites, and ozone, and hydrogen peroxide mayhe detected. Secondly, he shows that the source of nitrates is the gasflames used for evaporation, and for heating water-baths, &c., andthat, when evaporation is conducted without the direct aid of gasflames, for instance, by sun heat, or previously heated sand-baths, uotrace of nitrates is found, if the evaporation is conducted in a rocmwhere no gas flames have been burning.He further shows that mostof the chemical preparations which are sold as pure contain nitricacid, and he instances a case in which to prepare pure calcium car-bonate by precipitation, one portion of the product was dried in awater-bath, the other portion by filter-paper, the former product con-tained nitrate, the latter none. This holds good for all reagentssimilarly prepared.It is also shown that even the very testsemployed to detect nitric acid, such as brucine, may and frequentlydo contain a trace of nitrate.Passing on to Franks' experiments on the disappearance of theammonia when ammonium chloride is mixed with soil, he points outthat Frank seems to have forgotten the action of alkalis on com-pounds of ammonia, and shows that in forest soils nitrates are notfound, nor are they produced from added ammonia. Finally, hewarns all who are experimenting on nitrification to beware lest theyintroduce nitric acid by heating their solutions over gas flames, orignite solids in open crucibles, &c., also that chemicals or samplesmust not be kept in rooms where gas is burning, or they will bemore or less contaminated.E. W. P.H. I(. T.Composition of Spring Wheats grown in 1887. By M.MARCKER (Bied. Centtr., lb88, 708 --715j.-This is a similar paper t184 ABSTRACTS OF OHEMICAL PAPERS.the following, in which the compositions of varieties of foreign wheatsare compared. It appears th;t t. gmernlly, the highest percentageof albuminojids and gluten i s to be found in those wheats which comequickest to maturity (under 130 days), when there would be, of albu-mino'ids, 13.17 per cent., and of dry gluten, 18 08, whereas when theperiod of growth exceeds 130 days, the albuminojids amount toonly 12.47, and gluten t o 9.22 per cent. ; the smaller the grain, thehigher the percentage of gluten, whilst a large grain is indicative ofa high percentage of starch ; the wheats richest in gluten produce amore bulky dough than other kinds, and the early ripened wheat andthe largest grains are most suitable for baking purposes.The greaterthe percentage of gluten, the higher will the dough made from theflour rise in the aleurometer. E. W. P.Composition of East Indian Wheat. By T. DIETRICH(Landw. Versuchs-Stat., 1888, 309--318).-Several varieties of Indianwheat are fully described, both physically and chemically. On com-paring the percentage of albuminojids, it is found that the mean of 937analyses of English, Russian, &c., wheats gives 13.90 of crudealbuminoids in the dry substance, whilst the Indian wheats containonly 12.66 per cent. m a mean. E. W. P.Composition and Nutritive Value of Oats.By M. MARCEER(Bied. Centr., 1888, 697--704).--Prom a number of analyses andexperiments on several varieties of oats, the details of which aregiven, the following conclusions are drawn :-The heavier-yieldingsort is poorer in albumino'ids than the lighter-yielding; there is nodefinite ratio between the percentages of fat and albuminojids ; thatsort which comes quickest to maturity is richest in albuminoids ; thegrain poorest in albuminoids has the lowest bushel-weight, and thelargest iridividual grains are also the poorest in nitrogen ; the coeffi-cient of digestion does not seem to be influenced by the composition.Those grains which are smallest in size and richest in nitrogen havemost hull, and generally this hull is poorer in albuminojids than thatof other grains. The thickness of the skin surrounding the seed,measured immediately above the embryo, is not invariable-in oneyear it may be thickest in the large grains, whilst in other years itis thinnest. A table is also given representing the germinativepower and total yield of nutrients per acre, but with one 01- twoexceptions the oats are of foreign kiuds and not grown in England.E. W. P.Calcium Sulphite as a Preventative of Loss of Nitrogen inManure Heaps. By E. JENSCH (Clzern. Zeit., 12, 354--355).--Theauthor draws attention to the enormous losses of nitrogen inherent tothe present system of storing farmyard manure. These losses can bereduced by spreading gypsum, superphosphate and gypsum, andkairiite on the manure; b u t such additions are superfluous from a.manurial point of view in many districts, therefore those means havenot met with extensive application. Calcium sulphite is now recom-Inended for the purpose ; itl is inexpensive, can be applied everywhere,and not only retains ammoiiia, but also acts as a disinfectant. It iANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY. 185obtained as a bye-product from the gases evolved from the roasting ofzinc-blende, and is specially prepared for the present purpose freefrom lime and calcium carbonate, and with an ammonia-absorbingefficiency of 85 per cent. as compared with 68 per cent. in the bestcommercial unburnt gypsum. Its action as a manure on vegetationhas yet to be tested. D. A. L